AFI's voters 'Like It Hot':
Cross-dressing classic tops institute's list of 100 best American comedies
The Dallas Morning News, June 14, 2000
Nothing is funnier than men who dress up as women. That's the inescapable
conclusion after Tuesday night's three-hour CBS telecast, AFI's 100 Years ... 100
Laughs, on KTVT-TV (Channel 11).
Some Like It Hot - the cross-dressing comedy with Jack
Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe - was named
the funniest American movie of all time, followed by Tootsie, the '82 comedy
with Dustin Hoffman in drag.
Both were selected by a panel of 1,800 actors, directors, studio executives
and critics polled by the American Film Institute - the same group that in 1998 announced the much-debated top 100 American movies. The latest list
seems likely to stir up a similar furor.
Cary Grant, who wore a lady's robe in
Bringing Up Baby (No. 14), was the favorite comedic star, with eight movies in the top 100. The Marx brothers
and Woody Allen had five each, followed by Spencer
Tracy, Charlie Chaplin and Bill Murray with four each.
Katharine Hepburn and Margaret Dumont were the top actresses, both with
four films.
As for directors, Mr. Allen was the most honored, with five, followed by
George Cukor, Chaplin and
Preston Sturges with four each.
[For an analysis of the chosen 100, see the Guardian
article. But now for the list:]
- Some Like It Hot (1959)
- Tootsie (1982)
- Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
- Annie Hall (1977)
- Duck Soup (1933)
- Blazing Saddles (1974)
- M A S H (1970)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- The Graduate (1967)
- Airplane! (1980)
- The Producers (1968)
- A Night at the Opera (1935)
- Young Frankenstein (1974)
- Bringing Up Baby (1938)
- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Singin' in the Rain (1952)
- The Odd Couple (1968)
- The General (1927)
- His Girl Friday (1940)
- The Apartment (1960)
- A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
- Adam's Rib (1949)
- When Harry Met Sally (1989)
- Born Yesterday (1950)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- Being There (1979)
- There's Something About Mary (1998)
- Ghostbusters (1984)
- This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
- Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
- Raising Arizona (1987)
- The Thin Man (1934)
- Modern Times (1936)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- Harvey (1950)
- National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
- The Great Dictator (1940)
- City Lights (1931)
- Sullivan's Travels (1941)
- It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
- Moonstruck (1987)
- Big (1988)
- American Graffiti (1973)
- My Man Godfrey (1936)
- Harold and Maude (1972)
- Manhattan (1979)
- Shampoo (1975)
- A Shot in the Dark (1964)
- To Be or Not to Be (1942)
- Cat Ballou (1965)
- The Seven Year Itch (1955)
- Ninotchka (1939)
- Arthur (1981)
- The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944)
- The Lady Eve (1941)
- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
- Diner (1982)
- It's a Gift (1934)
- A Day at the Races (1937)
- Topper (1937)
- What's Up, Doc? (1972)
- Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
- Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
- Broadcast News (1987)
- Horse Feathers (1932)
- Take the Money and Run (1969)
- Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
- The Awful Truth (1937)
- Bananas (1971)
- Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
- Caddyshack (1980)
- Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
- Monkey Business (1931)
- 9 to 5 (1980)
- She Done Him Wrong (1933)
- Victor/Victoria (1982)
- The Palm Beach Story (1942)
- Road to Morocco (1942)
- The Freshman (1925)
- Sleeper (1973)
- The Navigator (1924)
- Private Benjamin (1980)
- Father of the Bride (1950)
- Lost in America (1985)
- Dinner at Eight (1933)
- City Slickers (1991)
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
- Beetlejuice (1988)
- The Jerk (1979)
- Woman of the Year (1942)
- The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
- Ball of Fire (1941)
- Fargo (1996)
- Auntie Mame (1958)
- Silver Streak (1976)
- Sons of the Desert (1933)
- Bull Durham (1988)
- The Court Jester (1956)
- The Nutty Professor (1963)
- Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
© 2000 The Dallas Morning News
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